JC: William Redman Carter Noble Savage Chapter 60 By Lazlo Zalezac Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2005 Jack sat in his new office unable to believe the difference that twenty four hours made in his life. His office was larger than the room he was renting. The furnishings were much more luxurious. Barbara Gray had told him that it had been the bedroom and exercise room, but they had converted it to his office. He would have been quite happy if they had left the bed in the room, but he wasn’t going to tell them that. He got up and made his way to the break room to get a soft drink. That was another thing that amazed him about this job. Everything in the break room was free. He had expected a vending machine. Opening a can of root beer, he took a seat at the table and looked around the room. It had real wood tables, not laminated particle board. Sandra entered the room and grabbed a cup of coffee. Turning, she caught him looking around with an expression on his face that was just a little too wide eyed for her comfort. All she needed in her life was another puppy dog. She sighed at the thought of having a coworker who was going to be hitting on her. “What’s the matter?” Jack asked. “Nothing,” Sandra answered. Gesturing to the room around him, he said, “It’s all so overwhelming. I never expected to have such a nice office until I was an executive or something. Even this break room is luxurious. I was kind of expecting plastic tables.” Sitting down, Sandra decided it was time to get to know her newest coworker. She asked, “What did you think of Barbara?” “That’s some woman. I’ve never met anyone so focused and professional in my life,” Jack answered. He had also been very intimidated by her appearance, but wasn’t going to mention that. “She’s pretty,” Sandra said fishing for his attitude towards women. “You can say that again,” Jack said with a nod of his head. There was no way that he was going to say that Sandra was just as pretty. The last thing he wanted was to get hit with some sort of sexual harassment charge. “Why do you think William hired her?” “Because she’s focused and professional,” Jack ventured. He didn’t think that William would trust someone with his business that wasn’t very good at their work. If he wanted a harem, he could afford to buy one. The fact of the matter was that Jack didn’t have a very good opinion of women. He felt that most of them were gold diggers and only interested in a man’s wallet. There were a lot of very attractive women who would spread their legs for someone as rich as William. “You don’t think he hired her because she’s pretty?” Sandra asked watching him very closely. Shaking his head in disgust, Jack stood and said, “I don’t want to participate in any ugly office gossip. If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to get back to work. I’ve got to identify some polling companies for William.” Sandra watched him leave and sighed in relief. She appreciated his reaction. At least he didn’t immediately suggest that Barbara had gotten her job because of her looks. She knew that he would have thought the same of her. Her thoughts were interrupted when Donna breezed into the room and, in an excited voice, said, “Doug is coming this weekend.” “I hope William gives him a little free time to visit with you. You know how William is when he’s working on something,” Sandra said with a smile. She had watched William during the conference in Seattle and had been amazed. “I know,” Donna said with a grin. She wasn’t going to mention that Doug was going to be spending the night at her house over the weekend. She hugged herself and said, “I just like being with him. You know what I mean?” “Yes, I know what you mean,” Sandra said even though she didn’t. “So what do you think of the new guy?” Sandra shrugged her shoulders and said, “I kind of like him. Pity I have to leave before getting to know him.” William entered the break room looking for Sandra. Finding her, he said, “Sandra. I just wanted to see if there was anything you needed before flying out to Arizona.” “No. I’ve got my trusty pad of paper and pencil. That’s all I need for now,” Sandra replied. She was going to Arizona before everyone else to set up the new offices. In seven weeks they would be moving out there for good. Bad decisions at this time would have long term consequences. “Great. I’ll leave everything in your capable hands. I know you’ll do a good job. We’re going to miss you around here, but I’ll see you in seven weeks,” William said. He turned to leave the room to talk with Jack. It was time for him to layout the eighteen components that he wanted to have polled. A shiver went through Sandra at his words. Surprising herself, she said, “Thank you William. I love you, too.” William froze and turned to look at Sandra. He didn’t know what to say and just stared at her. Seeing his obvious confusion, Sandra pretended as if she hadn’t said anything significant. With a little shooing gesture, she said, “Get to work. Jack is waiting for you.” “Uh, sure,” William said. He left the room feeling confused and wondering if he had told her that he loved her. He replayed the conversation in his head and just didn’t recall saying words to that effect. Once William was gone, Donna burst out in giggles. Seeing the shocked look on Sandra’s face to her reaction, Donna said, “Go look up the word clueless in the dictionary. You’ll find his picture there.” “Thanks. I needed to hear that. Well, I’ve got to head to the airport,” Sandra said standing up. Donna stood and hugged Sandra. In a soft voice, she said, “He does love you, you know.” “Yes, I know. It’s a pity that he doesn’t know it,” Sandra said. She sighed and thought about the long trip ahead. There would be plenty of time to think on the flight. *** Jack, Lucy, and Doug sat around the living room waiting for William. Doug looked over at Jack and asked, “So William hired you to work on our project?” “Yes,” Jack answered. Over the past few days he had learned more about how society functioned than he guessed was even possible. He was halfway convinced that once he received his degree in Sociology that he should turn it in. His courses in Women’s studies were ‘bitch’ sessions about how poorly men treated women rather than a developed theory of how the woman’s movement originated, the social forces that were generated, and how the social climate changed in response to those social forces. The same had been true of most of his other courses. The upshot of the majority of his coursework was that white men were the source of all problems in society. One of the most useless courses that he’d taken had been titled qualitative studies. The fact was that qualitative studies were not science. William’s view of sociology was quantitative rather than qualitative. While examining William’s equations, he could see social, political, and economic forces at play. They could make predictions based on William’s work. With proper resources, they could even set up social experiments. That was real science. “So what do you think?” Doug asked. He was curious why William had hired this guy without discussing the matter with him first. He’d seen the passion that William had for the problem, but he had never seen William this excited. “I think I had an orgasm while looking over his work,” Jack answered. He glanced over at Lucy and then said, “Pardon me.” Laughing at his obvious embarrassment, Lucy said, “No problem. It is pretty exciting stuff although I wouldn’t describe it in sexual terms. I didn’t realize just how much progress he had made in developing his theory.” “I’m more interested in your feelings about our idea of a crisis of followership,” Doug said. “After thinking about it, I’m kind of afraid of a rightwing radical taking over the country,” Jack answered. William entered the room and said, “I’m more concerned about the leftwing radicals.” “Leftwing?” Doug asked raising an eyebrow. “I know it sounds ridiculous, but think about it for a minute. It was communism that took down the Czar. Animal rights activists routinely engage in terrorist acts. I’d hardly call either group rightwing,” William replied. He shook his head and said, “Utopians really scare me.” “Conservatives are the ones we have to watch out for. All of that Bible talk will return us to the days when they burned witches,” Jack said. William laughed and said, “Don’t mistake conservatives with the religious right. They may have a few areas in common, but they aren’t the same.” “That’s ridiculous,” Jack said. “Who do you think is more likely to legalize prostitution, liberals or conservatives?” “Liberals, of course,” Jack answered. Lucy nodded her head in agreement. She was surprised when William asked, “Why do you think that?” “Liberals feel that prostitution is a victimless crime,” Jack answered. “Do they really? I always thought they believed that it was demeaning to women. That prostitution represented an exploitation of women and should be eliminated,” William said. “Conservatives believe that it is a sin,” Doug said. “A lot of them do believe that prostitution is a sin. A good percentage of them also view drinking as sinful. That doesn’t mean that drinking is illegal. In fact, it is just the opposite. Conservatives make sure that alcohol is heavily taxed,” William said with a smile. “You’re not saying …,” Jack started to say. William sat down in his chair and said, “That’s right, conservatives would use the argument that even though it is a sin, there is no way that we’ll ever be able to stop it. As a result, the only thing to do is legalize it and tax the hell out of it. That’s what makes a conservative different than the religious right.” “I’m not sure that I buy that argument,” Lucy said with a frown. Her father was pretty conservative and she couldn’t see him arguing to legalize prostitution. She knew that he’d say that if it was to become legal that they should have to be licensed and pay their taxes. “The key thing here is not to confuse a conservative with a member of the radical right. A conservative isn’t for a God fearing nation in which non-believers are prosecuted by the law. They’d rather have people go to church on Sundays on their own free will. They would appreciate not being treated like a villain because they do go to church, pray before a major event, or place a symbol of their faith in a public area. They don’t want to tear down crosses that have been in place for more than fifty years because someone has suddenly found a symbol of their faith insulting. “A conservative is basically against change. They’ll admit that things may not be exactly fair, but the correction should be a minor tweak of the system and not the elimination of the system. That’s the real definition of a conservative. It isn’t that they are pro-war, pro-business, or anti-gay. They just don’t want radical change in how things have been up to now. “In a funny way, conservatives do believe that people should have a lot more freedom in how they can act. They feel that if you own a business, then you have the right to say who works for you. That means you don’t have to hire someone to satisfy some equal opportunity criteria. Of course, that does deny equal opportunity to some people but it isn’t a result of a dictate by law. “I’m not saying that conservatives are entirely right. Some of their opposition to change allows civil injustices to continue. I’m just saying that is the last kind of person who would adopt radical change in the American political system,” William said. He knew that most people would argue against his description of conservatives, but that was just another symptom of the crisis of followership. It was too easy to lump those who opposed change with those who wanted to return to traditional values particularly when arguments against change were often couched in terms of traditional values. Jack said, “So you are saying that liberals are more likely to overturn the government?” “I’m saying that the far left is more likely to overturn the government,” William answered. Lucy said, “I’ve always considered myself to be somewhat liberal in my political beliefs.” Jack nodded his head and said, “Me too.” Doug said, “Same here.” “I’ve always considered myself to be a realist and a moderate,” William said. “So what do you consider to be the moderate position?” Lucy asked surprised that after being married to him for almost two years that he managed to surprise her with his politics. “I believe in democracy. I recognize that there are injustices, excesses, and problems, but I think that they have to be solved in a sane rational process. Of course, that takes time. I am willing to make changes, but those changes have to be supported by data to back up the supposition that the change will produce the desired result. Changes have to be introduced as a result of significant planning and consideration,” William said. His comment about having data to back up the predicted consequences of a change was exactly the problem he was trying to address. “According to what you said, that is the conservative position,” Jack said. “Not really. I accept that change is necessary and I think that we should actively seek it out. Let me repeat that. I believe that you have to constantly seek out injustices, excesses, and problems that are inherent in the system. I think you have to put changes into place that solve them without introducing different injustices, excesses, and problems. I don’t think that we should accept the pop theory of the day as solutions. I’m not willing to engage in nationwide social experimentation like some liberals,” William said. After William finished talking, everyone was silent thinking about what he had said. Several minutes went by before Jack asked, “So, what direction do you plan to move the country as a result of applying your theories?” “I don’t know. I don’t understand the problem well enough to know what can be done to solve it yet,” William answered. There was a lot of data that was required before he could identify the true underlying problems in the country. “Give me an example of something you don’t understand,” Doug said. “Let’s take poverty as an example. A lot of money has been thrown at that problem over the past fifty years. Despite the availability of housing, food stamps, education programs, tax incentives for business development, equal opportunity laws, and other social efforts there are neighborhoods that have continued to drift further from the average American standard of living. These areas are characterized by high crime rates, drug use, alcoholism, unmarried mothers, high school dropouts, and chronic unemployment,” William said. He paused for a moment and then asked, “Why is that the case?” “Because they are poor and view their situation as hopeless. They don’t have opportunities to escape that cycle of poverty,” Jack answered. “That is a symptom and not the problem,” William said. The lack of opportunity was always pointed out in his classes as the reason why impoverished areas remained poor. That had been drilled into Jack during all of his courses. He said, “Everyone knows that if people do not have an opportunity to escape poverty that they remain poor.” William frowned and said, “Look, there are eight years that are critical in the life of a poor person. Those years are from the age of ten to eighteen. Two of those years are exceptionally critical. That’s when they are fourteen to sixteen years of age. Bad decisions during those years lock them into poverty for the rest of their lives.” Shaking his head, Jack said, “That may be true, but that is because they see lack of opportunity as holding them back.” “Not so,” William said. He walked over to his desk and pulled out some papers. Handing them to Jack, he said, “Read these papers keeping in mind that they are describing good kids going bad; good kids, with great potential, who suddenly start using drugs, getting pregnant, and dropping out of school. Kids who were making A’s and B’s in fifth and sixth grade become C and D students by eight and ninth grade. By the age of eighteen, drug users, unwed mothers, and high school dropouts have cut off all possible future for themselves. It isn’t that opportunity is lacking, it is that they have severed themselves from opportunity.” Jack shrugged his shoulders and said, “Everyone knows about what a bad job our schools are doing in educating those kids.” “You can’t force kids to learn. This isn’t a problem that is going to be solved by throwing another education program at the kids. The problem is that the kids are the subject of a cultural abuse that is absolutely devastating during that period of their lives.” “Don’t forget that is when hormones are kicking in,” Lucy said. Those were critical ages for kids of every economic and social setting because of physical and emotional changes associated with growing up. “That’s part of what makes the abuse so effective,” William said. He shuffled through a stack of papers and extracted one of them. He handed that paper to Jack and said, “Here’s a paper that predicted an increase in drug use in a single neighborhood as a result of a simple change in local economic policies. That prediction was seen to come true.” Jack looked over the papers in his hand and realized that he was going to spend the next week doing little else besides reading them. Looking over at William, he said, “You tell me that the problem is the result of cultural abuse and then you say the problem is economic. Which is it?” “You asked for an example of something that I didn’t understand. This is one example where I don’t know the answer,” William answered. He sighed and said, “There aren’t any little quick and easy solutions to problems of this complexity. Can we identify them? I don’t know.” “So what does this have to do with a crisis of followership?” Doug asked. “Name one area of American Political debate that is more emotionally charged and divisive than poverty? From that one problem area, there are arguments over civil rights, drug use, prostitution, religion, and economic policy. All of our solutions are half measures because none of them address the real underlying cause.” “So what is the real underlying cause?” “I have no idea,” William said although it wasn’t exactly true. He suspected that there were over a dozen reasons for the problem of poverty. Some of the reasons were social, some were economic, and some were just bad luck. He sighed and said, “In a way, I feel that the inner-city poverty areas of this country give the most obvious demonstration of crisis of followership.” Jack had always considered himself to be a liberal. He believed that big business was a major force that was bringing about the destruction of the world. He fully endorsed the idea that rich men were motivated by unbridled greed and trampled the poor under their feet. The invention of the Fusion Well by John Carter was the only thing that had avoided a global ecological disaster. He wondered if the only reason William was an exception to the powerful businessman was because John Carter was his father. He said, “Lots of people think that big business wants people to be poor.” “Why would they want that?” William asked raising an eyebrow. He glanced over at Lucy and saw that she was trying to keep from laughing. “Because they need a constant source of cheap labor,” Jack answered. “But the people we are talking about are unemployed and unemployable. That doesn’t provide big business with cheap labor,” Lucy said. William said, “There are no advantages to having a huge population of poor people from the perspective of big business. Poor people make poor consumers. They can’t afford cars, new homes, new appliances, or expensive services. They don’t have the kinds of skills and education that make them valuable employees. Poverty cost big businesses money. They pay taxes that are diverted to helping the poor rather than into infrastructure development that would directly impact the profitability of the company.” “I don’t buy that argument,” Jack said deciding that he would research that specific issue to prove William wrong. William smiled and said, “I know. That’s what makes you so valuable to me.”